A performance conundrum.

[TheMeanestGuest]

My friend has recently upgraded his previously terrible computer to be somewhat acceptable. Initially his performance in games is about what I would expect, he's getting around 50-60 FPS in COD4 on high and around 30-40 FPS in CoH on high.

What perplexes me is that his performance gradually decreases as he plays, until eventually it's at about 10 FPS in CoH and 20 FPS in COD4.

These are his specs:

Pentium D @ 2.8 ghz.
512 MB GDDR3 HD 4670.
2 GB DDR2 667 (Corsair).
300 watt PSU.
Windows XP.

Now, I realize the Pentium Ds are not so great, that however should not result in gradual performance loss. I also realize that his power supply is probably barely giving him enough power, but to my knowledge that should not cause a gradual performance loss.

To me it sounds like he doesn't have enough memory, or there is a memory leak. However, this isn't just on one game. Is a general memory leak possible, or is it something else?

Does anyone have any ideas?

 

[Billb2]

Originally posted by: TheMeanestGuest

Is a general memory leak possible, or is it something else?

No such thing a a "general" memory leak, like it's leaking out onto the floor...

It is possible though for a memory leak to be initiated by a number of programs.

I really think you're barking up the wrong tree, or at least barking too soon.

I'd look for CPU throttling (from overheat) first.

 

[GaryJohnson]

Windows task manager can tell you how much memory is being used by all the processes on the system. Just check it when everything is running ok, and then compare it to when it's not.

I second heat throttling as a possibility.

It could also be that your overflowing into virtual memory and the page file is severly fragmented.

 

[mpilchfamily]

Yea i was thinking the same thing. Sounds like a Virtual memory issue. Also a 300W PSU seams a bit low for that system. If its not effecting performance now it could be in the very near future.